By Gary Hart

This is the final installment of this series. Congratulations for having taken the time to become better educated and prepared to run a more successful business. If you have followed my suggestions and recommendations throughout this series, you should have already noticed a positive change in your business.

Over the course of the publishing of this series, I have received many calls and e-mails containing both praise and contention. It is exciting to see that many of you are taking steps in your business to better operations, sales and morale.

At the recent Auto Glass Expo in Minneapolis, I had the opportunity to meet with many AGRR/glassBYTEs™ readers who shared their personal success stories. Overwhelmingly, most of the success is in the marketing area of their business. From creating cross-business promotions to measuring current marketing campaign effectiveness, these shop owners and managers have been able to immediately create an impact that increased sales and profitability.

Other owners and managers have boosted morale and seen an improvement in job quality and satisfaction. The point in sharing this information with you is that each one of these shops took some small part of this series and turned it into a positive change for the business. You don't have to follow each step exactly as I have explained it, but you do have to plan, execute and follow-up to make an impact.

In conclusion, I would like to give a few pointers and comments to think about.

First, demand the most from your point of sale provider, the networks and industry trade associations. Don't lose sight of the fact that you are the reason the industry exists and the jobs are completed. The balance of power is in need of a shift to neutral and only you have the power to make that happen.

Raise your voice and demand more from trade show events. Let it be known that you want to see more educational tracks about business issues and technology.

Also speak up and demand that the technology providers in the industry create a technology panel or advisory committee to set standards for better products that your business can use.

And most of all, never settle. Never settle for the same old thing and always demand change for the better. Demand excellence in your organization and you will be successful beyond your wildest dreams.

I would like to thank the editor and publisher of glassBYTEs for publishing my series and to all of you who have followed it. I wish you all the best and I look forward to seeing you at the next industry event.

Gary Hart is CEO of eDirectGlass.